Staff Sergeant Thomas P. Parkinson

Operations Sergeant, HQ, 2nd Battalion

319th Infantry Regiment, 80th Division

 

Staff Sergeant Thomas P. Parkinson

Operations Sergeant, HQ, 2nd Battalion

319th Infantry Regiment, 80th Division

 

From the nephew of S/Sgt. Thomas P. Parkinson, comes the following:  "All I can tell you about his service are several stories I remember him telling me when I was a kid.  I know he was in some tough fights.  He told me that on one occasion he and some other men were in a farmhouse throwing grenades out the window as Germans were tossing stick grenades in at them.  There is a scene near the end of Saving Private Ryan that reminds me a lot of what he said about grenades going back and forth from that house.  In the winter following the Battle of the Bulge he said he saw German officers wearing red capes to contrast with the snow as an incentive to demoralized German enlisted men to follow them in an attack on 80th Division positions.   Later that spring, when they were in Germany, Uncle Tom and a couple other men were in a jeep, when they turned onto a long, straight, wide, flat road.  They thought to themselves that this must be an autobahn, but only until they noticed a Messerschmitt playing chicken with them.  As the plane took off just ahead of them they realized they had overrun a German airstrip while the last fighter was taking off to escape being captured."  Anyone who knew S/Sgt. Parkinson, or might have information or photos of him is asked to kindly share it with the Parkinson family.  Any emails can be sent to the Webmaster at the address below, and I will forward it to the family.

 

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